Wednesday, April 15, 2009

A Good Read

And a good cup of tea. That, along with watching a movie with a crochet project, is one of my favorite ways to spend an evening.
Since I work in a bookstore, it's definitely a very easy thing to do, since there are always books that I want to read.

I finished reading The Book of Negroes (by Lawrence Hill, published in the USA as Somebody Knows My Name) a few weeks ago, and it was one of the best books I've read in years. Mr. Hill does an amazing job of describing Aminata's life, and even though it is a fictional story, I could feel myself walking in her shoes. I am not usually drawn to such powerful stories, usually preferring to read Terry Pratchett, or Christopher Moore; but the tale is so well woven that I couldn't put it down! I got so attached to characters that I easily found myself laughing along (or at) them, and crying along with them as well.
Highly recommend it!

And....For something completely different, the next book I'm finding myself in is Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Seth Grahame-Smith has taken the classic novel, and turned it into a Zombie thriller. I'm so entertained by how serious the whole thing seems. It's even got a Readers Discussion Guide in the back, including my favorite question: "9. Is Lady Catherine's objection to Elizabeth (as a bride for her nephew) merely a matter of Elizabeth's inferior wealth and rank? Or could there be another explanation? Could she be intimidated by Elizabeth's fighting skills? Is she herself secretly in love with Darcy? Or is she bitter about the shortcomings of her own daughter?"
Grahame-Smith has expertly woven into Jane Austen's world to add a society where zombies have been the norm for some five-and-fifty years, and young ladies are equally capable (if not more so capable) of mastering the combat arts to defend themselves and those around them from the undead.
Read if you're capable of taking classic literature lightly. Don't if you love your precious Pride & Prejudice so much the mere thought of anyone medling with the original makes your eyes bleed.

I sat up and re-watched the 1995 Pride & Prejudice production from BBC (so very worth owning!), before reading P&P&Z, and it seems to be making each moment of the book that much more entertaining. (I would have read the original book...but...in all honesty, I found the original to be a very slow read, and reading it once was quite enough for me. I still appreciate it for what it is.)

And on a topic completly not related to books at all,...I was in the dollar store today and picked up some cute rub-on sticker things from a brand I had not heard of before - Cosmo Cricket. It had a site on the back, and since I liked what I saw, checked it out when I got home. Wow! So cute! This is a company that I'm seeking out and finding more of! This is the only line of scrapbooking materials that I have found where every single thing they make, is something I love! What the stuff was doing in the dollar store....well, I just hope it's a sign of their other products being well priced as well! *crosses fingers*

I know previous posts in this blog have been about yarn and crochet, but I assure you, I like a bazzilion other crafts as well, so you'll see a sprinkling of them come along as well. :)

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